The Games Angels Play
by The Mad Fangirl
Summary: Crossover, YuGiOh and Angel: The Series. On a rare, rainy night in Los Angeles, a short, violet-eyed boy walks into Angel Investigations. He has a problem; his Darkness is missing. Can Angel, Cordelia, and company find him before it's too late?
1. Part 1 - Prologue

Okay. Let's get this party started...  
  
Angel continuity note: This fic takes place in Season Three, after Cordelia becomes part demon and before Groo shows up again. Thus, Connor's still a bouncing baby being raised by Angel, and we avoid all that nasty angst; not to mention, we get Wesley before people start messing with his head. He's still the boss, and still da man. And Cordelia, thank God, is still a brunette.  
  
YGO continuity note: Takes place an unspecified time after Duelist Kingdom, but it's been at least a year, probably more. Kaiba's mellowed *a little,* and the whole circle of friends and acquaintances is pretty much filled in on the Yami / Hikari dichotomy. I've read in a couple of author's notes that the two only split when alone - let's say they've progressed beyond that point. As I'm writing this fic from the dub and other fic, (lowly American with no access to fansubs / translated manga, hint hint whine,) please let me know if anything seems terribly off.  
  
If any non-YuGiOh fans should stumble across this work: Cool! Let me know if you think the anime characters need more setup or description, and if possible I'll revise to include it.  
  
Finally, this fic is certified non-slash / yaoi free. Anyone who's icked out by that can read this, no problem. Of course, if you like that sort of thing, you can probably find hints of at least Y/Y if you stare hard enough. I certainly won't contradict you. :-) That being said, there will be a het pairing, but I won't spoil it for you.  
  
Key: "any speech" //any thought// 'words mouthed but not actually spoken'  
  
Disclaimer: I make no money from this. YuGiOh does not belong to me. Angel does not belong to me. But, all your base are belong to us. Rated PG-13 for suggestive dialogue and violence on the level of the average Angel episode.  
  
And now, without further ado,  
  
"The Games Angels Play" A Full-Length YuGiOh / Angel: The Series Crossover by The Mad Fangirl  
  
* * * * *  
  
Part 1  
  
-----"The game is afoot." -Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes-----  
  
"Angel Investigations! We help the...hel-lo."  
  
The door to the Hyperion Hotel cracked open a bit, then a bit more, and in slipped a boy bedraggled by the rain that did, despite popular opinion, occasionally drench the City of Angels. Cordelia put down the phone with a murmured 'Please Hold,' and moved to the kid's side. After all, he'd made it inside, so he wasn't a vampire, and if he were some other sort of nasty...well, in that case, she was up a creek. "Wesley! Hey, Wes!"  
  
The man with the glasses ran out of his office, prepared for anything, or as prepared as he could be without heavy weaponry, as that tended to scare potential clients. He brought himself up short as he saw Cordelia with her arm around a slight, soaked child, his hair hanging down in multicolored stripes. He passed a lobby-level bathroom on his way to the reception area and grabbed a large towel, handing it to Cordy as she guided the boy to a chair.  
  
Cordelia arranged the fluffy bath sheet about the boy's neck and shoulders, toweling him gently, and looked over his bowed head to Wesley.  
  
'Demon?' she mouthed soundlessly.  
  
Wesley shrugged. 'Tea,' he mouthed back.  
  
'Tea demon?'  
  
'Make tea, he's freezing!'  
  
'Oh. Gotcha.'  
  
Cordelia rose to start the teakettle, one of Wes' additions to the office. The Englishman disdained tea a la microwave. Wes, for his part, looked down at the boy half-hidden by fabric.  
  
The child looked up at him and started speaking, quickly and nervously.  
  
And completely in Japanese.  
  
Wes knew a little of that language, though his expertise ran more toward ancient tongues. He focused, doing his best to translate, when the boy switched to English.  
  
"Sorry," he said, "I'm just a little...I'm not sure how to say it all in English. I was hoping you knew a little Japanese?" His eyes were huge, an odd shade of violet. They were bright and guileless, and Wesley was struck with the sense that therein was an innocence worth sheltering and protecting. He pinched himself, surreptitiously, in case the kid really was evil. In his business, you couldn't be too careful.  
  
"I do," Wes replied, "but a very little, I'm afraid. My colleague knows a bit more, and he should be here any..."  
  
"Hey there," a new arrival broke in. Tall, with sculpted, dark hair and opaque brown eyes, his leather jacket featured a suspicious blotch on the left shoulder. "I heard. I was just putting Connor to bed, and I...what?" Wes flicked his eyes to the man's shoulder and made a brushing motion. "Wha...oh. Eww." He withdrew a handkerchief and blotted at the small puddle. "Anyway, um, I'm Angel. Welcome to Angel Investigations. Now, what were you saying was missing? The dark? Darkness?"  
  
"*My* darkness," the boy said, with an odd emphasis. His brow furrowed. "My *Yami*. He's gone."  
  
* * *  
  
A/N: Well, that's the teaser! Interested? Intrigued? Maybe just a little? Also, confidential to my beta-reader: Where'd you go? Haven't heard from you since I sent the fic over. Thus, this fic is relatively un-beta-read, but if you or anyone else who's into both shows wants to beta the remaining parts, e-mail me. 


	2. Part 2

A/N: Okay, I think I've teased you all long enough :) - to Liz, Gaia, and anyone else who wants longer parts, your wish is my command; the last part was more of a trailer. Enjoy Part 2 of "The Games Angels Play."  
  
* * *  
  
Part 2  
  
-----"Your foolish games are tearing me apart." -Jewel-----  
  
"We argued," the boy continued. "We almost never argue anymore, but something...it was really bad." His voice was rough. "He left our hotel room and took off running. I felt something was wrong. I know he felt it too, but he..." he took a deep breath. "Then, I couldn't feel him at all. We're linked - we're one! I should be able to, but I can't, and..." As he spoke, he turned his pyramid-shaped pendant over and over in his hands. Wesley finally got a good view of the jewelry and his eyes widened.  
  
"Young man, is that the Millennium Puzzle?" The boy sighed and nodded.  
  
"The who now?" asked Gunn, who'd joined Cordelia by the teapot. She looked at the tall black man and shrugged.  
  
Wesley elaborated for the group. "This boy is wearing one of a set of several linked items of power. Ancient Egyptian, I believe...the texts are a bit fuzzy, but they're said to have souls trapped within them, or be able to trap souls, or something to that effect." On that statement all eyes but Yugi's turned to Angel, and everyone but Yugi edged slightly away from him. Angel, for his part, sidled away from Yugi.  
  
"It's complicated," Yugi replied, "but I don't really use the Puzzle's magic, Yami does. I'm really worried about him." He looked up at Wesley. "Seto said you were good people and that you could help me find him."  
  
"Seto...Kaiba?" Wes asked, receiving a nod. He sighed. "Well, that explains that."  
  
"Who's Seto Kaiba?" Angel asked, and Wes looked up, the ghost of old pain in his eyes.  
  
"A member of the young billionaires club. I met him when I was seeing Virginia. He must have heard enough about A.I. to recommend us."  
  
"Wes's ex-girlfriend?" Gunn murmured. "You think maybe this Seto was the next guy..."  
  
"In Virginia?" Cordelia murmured back. "Could be." She brought the tea service out to the main lobby and Gunn followed. She pressed a full mug into Yugi's hands and the boy smiled thankfully. His hair was beginning to dry into stiff spikes.  
  
"Perhaps it's best if we begin at the beginning," Wesley said. "You and this Yami are linked through the puzzle somehow, correct? And you're concerned because the link is not working?"  
  
Yugi nodded. "It doesn't feel right. It's not natural. I guess I felt something wrong ever since this morning, but it was...subtle, until we had that argument, and things just seemed to explode. I don't know what happened." The boy sounded lost, and something in his voice caused a twinge in the chests of all present, living or otherwise.  
  
"What was the argument about?"  
  
"Hey," came a new voice from the door, "I don't think that's important right now. We just gotta find the guy, right?"  
  
Yugi grinned. "Jounouchi!" A string of syllables followed, in Japanese, too fast for anyone but possibly Angel to make out.  
  
"Goin' by Joey while we're Stateside, remember, Yug'?" the blonde responded, to stares. "What? I learned English Brooklyn-style. Wanna make something of it?" He happened to be looking at Angel, so Angel just shrugged.  
  
"Where's everyone?"  
  
"Well, got a call from Tea and Tristan," to Yugi's blank look, he added "Anzu and Honda - you musta been sleeping through the English names thing. Anyhoo, they were still heading to Domino Airport; it's gonna take awhile for them to get here."  
  
"That's right - they got later flights. And Seto?"  
  
"*His Highness* is parking the car. I tell ya, Yug', you owe me for havin' ta be alone with that..." Joey noticed then that everyone was staring at him. "...guy that's standing right behind me, isn't he?"  
  
"Maybe you are more perceptive than everyone thinks," said the tall new arrival, as water beaded off his trench coat. He shook the water from his brown hair. Cordelia saw the drops fly in slow motion.  
  
//Well, that was some prime bitchery, // she reflected, //and I should know. But...yummy, rich...bitchy...yummy...dating Virginia...yummy...uh- oh. //  
  
"Nice coat," said Angel.  
  
"Thanks. Oh, by the way, you can name your fee for this project; I'll pick it up." Which was something the staff of Angel Investigations was not used to hearing, and they all straightened, animated by a new sense of purpose. "There's one condition. You must find Yami within the next three days. We have a Duel Monsters card clinic at the Children's Hospital, and I want this settled by then." And then, more personally, "Hello, Wesley. It's been a while."  
  
"Seto. Frankly, I'm surprised you remember me. It only took you two minutes to destroy me at Gin."  
  
"Well, Virginia...thinks highly of you." And oddly, Seto Kaiba did not look the least bit smug when he said this. //Interesting, // Wes thought. The two and Angel had drifted away from the rest, and Wesley thought it was time for some candid conversation. "Seto," he asked, "Have we any reason, truly, to suspect foul play? This Yami ran off by himself - he might not want to be found."  
  
"If it were anyone else, I'd be more willing to entertain the idea," Kaiba said. "But for him, hurting Yugi is inconceivable. If anyone else caused the kid this level of worry and anxiety, Yami would tear them apart. I know this from personal experience." His eyes narrowed. "I've never met anyone more capable of taking care of themselves, but I wish I could honestly tell you I thought Yami was just fine."  
  
* * *  
  
"Hey, kid, don't struggle and you'll be just fine. We ain't gonna hurt you."  
  
He struggled, of course, every time he found something that seemed remotely like an opening. But anything he tried was absorbed. He'd even relieved one of them of a knife and jammed it into his leg. It had barely fazed the man, whose limp was steadily disappearing.  
  
"We'll even play that game you wanted when we get where we're going. Hope poker's okay. I love poker."  
  
"We were supposed to play it now," he muttered. But when he'd tried to use his most devastating ability....  
  
// "We're going to play a little game," Yami said, cornered. And he'd summoned his power, but it had found no purchase in the other man. They were still there, still in the alley, and he was still stuck with several obscenely strong opponents. "Yeah," the leader replied, "It's called 'Give it up and come along quietly, 'cause we don't get paid if we bruise ya.'"//  
  
//This is not good, // Yami thought. //At least my Light is safe. As it should be. He needs to be kept safe. Safe from the pain I bring. Safe from me. //  
  
* * *  
  
"Well, since we're all safely on retainer, and boy, do I love saying that, let's round up the rest of the troops," Cordelia said. "Wanna get Fred and Lorne down here?"  
  
"Aren't you the boss?" Kaiba asked Wesley, under his breath.  
  
"Yes, but if you wouldn't mind telling Cordelia?"  
  
"Lorne? You think?" Angel was almost up the stairs when he paused. The last two of the Angel crew were in Connor's room, and Angel took any excuse to see his pride and joy, but there was a specific issue with involving his preferred baby-sitter.  
  
"Look, I'm getting no vision-y anything on this, so Lorne's our next best hope," Cordelia said. As Angel shrugged and continued, Wesley said, "He's got a point. Lorne..."  
  
"Look, the kid's wearing ancient magic, and Money here knows Virginia, who comes from major magic-trafficking cash," Gunn said. "I seriously doubt they'll have a problem with..." Then he stopped at the simultaneous gasps from their Japanese guests. Their jaws had dropped, their mouths hung open, and they'd paled to the point where their cheeks were nearly highlighted in blue. "Okay, doubts quashed."  
  
They were, of course, staring at the staircase. Descending was Angel, a thin, dark-haired woman, and another man. Said man was impeccably dressed and coiffed, and was also just about the same shade of green as a Swamp Battle Guard. He also sported a small pair of horns.  
  
Lorne sighed. "Yeah, I get that a lot."  
  
"Whh...Whaa?" That was Joey.  
  
Kaiba, meanwhile, composed himself and nodded. "Lorne, I presume." He was surprised anew when the green...demon?...bowed low and greeted him in perfect Japanese.  
  
Yugi, for his part, stood and smiled shyly. "I'm sorry. We've been rude. It's just that we don't usually see people who look like you unless we're playing cards."  
  
"Got that right," Joey murmured, still eyeing the green man but trying not to be as obvious about it.  
  
Lorne, for his part, had begun gathering preliminary impressions immediately. There was stress and worry, but not to a terrible degree, from Kaiba. He was a man in control, someone wedded to power but using it to cover...then the blonde. Seemed uncomplicated on the surface, but it was a surface current over depths...and the short kid..."Whoa."  
  
"Whoa? Good whoa or bad whoa?"  
  
"Can't tell yet, princess. Just...getting major interference here."  
  
"Hi, I'm Fred," said the dark-haired woman, waving from the stairs.  
  
"Hi Fred," Joey and Yugi replied. Seto glanced over, then back.  
  
"Okay, here it is," the green Lorne began, "I'm kinda the house psychic these days, and I read better if you're singing. So we'll try that first, and then go for the hands-on approach if we've gotta. And we might, 'cause there's definitely something in the way." He took a seat opposite Yugi.  
  
"Why singing?" the boy asked, looking at Lorne curiously.  
  
"When you sing, you put your heart and soul into it, even if you don't mean to. If you're soul-linked to this guy, then hopefully I'll see him too. Go ahead, kid, give it a try. Anything." His voice was kind.  
  
And Yugi sang. His light tenor wove its way around an old, wordless melody, and Lorne began speaking softly over the song.  
  
"He loves his grandfather very much. He's concerned about a white-haired boy because the darkness in him won't stay buried. He's scared for Yami. He's never seen him frightened like that...ohh...ow...."  
  
"Lorne?" Wes asked, and the demon shushed him.  
  
"I'm okay..." but he tapped Yugi on the hand and motioned for the boy to stop. He looked at the group, and said, "All right, here it is. I felt the link...it's like a cord spun from his soul. I tried to follow it, but there was all this static, like snow on TV, y'know? I barely followed it to the door before I lost it. Looks like it's time for plan B." He motioned to the couch and Cordelia and Gunn stood. "Lie down there. I'm gonna try something else."  
  
"Okay, this is getting seriously weird," Joey said.  
  
"Yeah, but you can handle it," Lorne replied. "You're adaptable, and you know it, too. You just gotta realize it, consciously."  
  
"That's what I'd expect from a fraud psychic," Kaiba said, "telling people what they want to believe."  
  
"You don't like it, you don't have to pay me," Lorne replied. "You ought to think about why you constantly have to cut down the easy marks to bolster your own ego. And by the way, your brother is never going to forget how much you love him. Even if you are gone a lot, it shines so brightly that he can't help but see it. Trust me, he knows." Lorne stood behind the couch arm. "...you jackass..."  
  
"What?" Yugi asked  
  
"Not you." Lorne put his hands on Yugi's temples. "Okay, now close your eyes." Yugi did so, and a moment later, Lorne followed suit.  
  
Drawn by an impulse she couldn't explain, Cordelia moved closer. So she was there when Lorne began to tremble. She was able to put her arms on his shoulders to steady him, as the two of them lifted and began to hover an inch off the floor. And maybe, just maybe, she was able to apply a little bit of braking thrust when the two of them were blown back across the room.  
  
* * * 


	3. Part 3

Running Credits: To Yayoi, thanks for your feedback so far! Definitely helpful. To Shiko - heh. Sorry, I couldn't help myself. I'd just never seen the English and Japanese names for characters tied together like that before, and thought it might be fun. Why not use a trip to a foreign country to reinvent yourself a little? 'Cept for Jou - in my twisted brain he had a New Yorker help him polish his English and ended up with a nickname and an accent. Now, on to Part the Third...  
  
* * *  
  
Part 3  
  
-----"The game of life is not so much in holding a good hand as playing a poor hand well." -H. T. Leslie-----  
  
"Okay, that was not at all fun," Lorne said, as he and Cordelia accepted hands up. "Anything broken, princess?"  
  
Cordelia had her assist from Seto Kaiba, and she staggered slightly as he pulled her to her feet. "Yummy..." she said faintly.  
  
"What was that?"  
  
"Yami! Um, we didn't find him. But I think we've got a lead. And I'm okay, really."  
  
"Anyone wanna tell me what just happened?" Joey asked.  
  
"I'm not sure," Lorne said. "All I know is that I was getting more and more static, and then Cordy here managed to give me a boost. She's the only reason I held on as long as I did, and maybe why we got a clear visual."  
  
"Did I do the floating thing again?" Cordelia asked, and Angel nodded.  
  
"Did you find him?" Seto asked.  
  
"Thought you didn't believe."  
  
"I never said that. But even if I hadn't, I don't ignore my own eyes. Something happened...but if you didn't see Yami, what did you see?"  
  
"I could only follow the trail so far before the static cut me off. It's a spell, by the way, a strong one. And it got a power boost somewhere around the cutoff point."  
  
"Which is?"  
  
"Ten minutes away. Get the car; I'll show you."  
  
* * *  
  
The rain was gone, so they went topless. Angel's convertible was roomy, but the group had no desire to be stopped, and the company's namesake had only five seatbelts to said name. Thus Lorne rode shotgun as Angel drove, and Gunn filed in between Joey and Kaiba in the back seat. Gunn looked to his left, then his right, and caught the two glaring daggers at each other. Great. One of *those* jobs.  
  
Well, time to try and defuse things. "So, what's the deal with Yugi and Yami, anyhow? How'd they get linked by that puzzle thing?"  
  
"Well, 's not really my story ta tell," Joey began.  
  
"You know all you need to know at this stage," Kaiba said at the same time.  
  
Then all three jerked against their seatbelts as the car slammed to a halt. Angel turned around.  
  
"You're both hiding something," he said mildly. "And I don't care how much you're willing to pay. If you're withholding anything that's going to get my friends hurt, this is as far as we go."  
  
"Two hundred fifty an hour per employee plus expenses," Kaiba replied.  
  
Angel paused for a moment. Then, "Okay."  
  
"Angel!" from Lorne and Gunn, simultaneously, as the convertible started again.  
  
"What? I've got an extra mouth to feed."  
  
"Angel!"  
  
"You realize that as the founder, I have a higher billing rate."  
  
"ANGEL!"  
  
* * *  
  
Meanwhile, back at the Hyperion. . .  
  
Yugi sipped yet more tea. Lines of strain were forming around his large, violet eyes, and every so often, those eyes would unfocus, his gaze wandering off into space. Cordelia, seeing this, had switched him to decaf, but that hadn't seemed to help.  
  
"You're reaching for him," Fred said suddenly. "That's where you keep going, isn't it? And why you don't look better when you get back."  
  
"Are you psychic too?" Yugi asked.  
  
"No," Fred replied softly. "But I know a lot about loneliness. I kinda get the feeling you're used to havin' him with you."  
  
"It's been years now," Yugi replied. "I was scared at first. He seemed so different. But now...I can't imagine life without him. I don't know how he could think that he..."  
  
Yugi's voice trailed off as he became aware of more eyes on him. Cordelia and Wes were watching and listening.  
  
"Go on," Wesley said, and Yugi felt the man's quiet authority. It made him feel safer, but it was no substitute. There was a dull ache all through him, and it was soul-deep.  
  
"It was ... it was very personal," Yugi said slowly, looking down at his cup. "But...he said he thought he was corrupting me. I think that's the word. I'd felt that in him before, but just as a fleeting concern. I'd always managed to make him feel better about it. Then, suddenly, today, it was all he could think about. I couldn't get through to him at all. And when I confronted him...." Yugi's voice dropped to a whisper. "When I confronted him, he ran from me."  
  
Fred put a comforting arm around his shoulders, as Wesley said, "You said today. When today did this start?" He crouched before the boy, meeting his eyes, speaking in soothing tones. "When, exactly, did things change? Think carefully. Close your eyes if you need to. When did all this begin?"  
  
"The airport," Yugi said. "No...the hotel. He was in his soul-room. We were checking in. Someone bumped me. He spilled something on my shoulder, and then he said something to me."  
  
"What did he say, Yugi?"  
  
"I didn't recognize the word...I was going to look it up..."  
  
"Focus on the moment. Hear it again. Sound it out."  
  
Yugi's eyes were closed. He looked back, remembering. The same mind that catalogued every Duel Monsters card he'd ever seen and memorized every move returned to one particular moment in time.  
  
"'Segregare.' He said 'segregare.'" Yugi's eyes opened. "It wasn't English, was it?"  
  
"Latin," said Wesley, standing. "He was casting a spell."  
  
* * *  
  
"Okay, this is it," Lorne said. "Trail goes cold here. Guessing the spell was reinforced hereabouts."  
  
The car's passengers looked around the empty parking lot. At least it wasn't an alley or a warehouse, Gunn reflected. It was a business district, though, and completely deserted at this time of night.  
  
Well, maybe not completely.  
  
A skittering noise first skirted the edges of Angel's awareness, then Lorne's. It might have been a rat, or it might have been a boot on gravel.  
  
Then, by the time the noise reached the humans' ears, Angel had a pretty good idea of their stalkers. By sound and scent, it had to be... "Vampires. Four or five, circling."  
  
"All right, what?"  
  
"Y-you're kidding, right?" But Joey took the proffered stake, grasping it firmly.  
  
"Lorne?" Angel said.  
  
"Hey, I'm a lover, not a fighter." Lorne sighed. "But what the heck."  
  
"Get ready. They'll show themselves soon."  
  
"How hard can it be?" Seto said. Gunn tossed him a stake from below the seat.  
  
"Stake to the heart or decapitation. That's how you kill vamps."  
  
Seto reached below his coat and removed a shotgun. "Shotgun to the neck?"  
  
Gunn's eyes widened. "Yeah, that'll work too."  
  
Joey goggled. "How did you get that on the plane?!"  
  
Kaiba shrugged. "I had it here. Doesn't everyone in this country have guns?"  
  
Then, melting from the shadows, they came. There were five, and they looked relatively normal, save for an abundance of black clothing. But one of them growled and his face shifted, deforming. The rest followed suit, and they no longer looked quite so human.  
  
And as one, all the vamps bowed.  
  
"Well, at least they have manners," Seto said.  
  
"Hail to thee, father of the Miracle Child!" The leader said to Angel.  
  
The other four circling the car echoed, "The Miracle Child!"  
  
Angel hit himself in the head with the heel of his hand. "Oh, no. Not these guys again." And Gunn and Lorne groaned.  
  
"Y-you know these clowns?"  
  
"Yeah. They think Angel's kid's the second coming. Don't ask."  
  
"We waited for those who would follow. It is written that the Darkness' followers will come for him!" the lead vamp continued.  
  
"Followers?" Seto said dangerously. "Oh, I don't think so."  
  
"But it was not said that the followers would include the father of the Miracle Child!"  
  
"The Miracle Child!" the vampires chorused.  
  
"We will anoint the Dark Sacrifice with his blood!"  
  
"It shall cement the connection to the Miracle Child! Surely, he shall turn to darkness and forsake the light!"  
  
"We are truly blessed!" They gathered to spring.  
  
"So I guess this is the part where we fi-" Joey began. He lifted the sharpened stake. But after two shotgun blasts from Seto, axe swings from Gunn, and sword slashes from Angel, all five vampires exploded into dust. Joey looked at the stake in his hand and then at Lorne.  
  
The green demon smiled. "They were toast, kid. These guys face bigger hordes than that every other week."  
  
"Hmm. Not as hard as I thought," Kaiba said.  
  
Gunn looked at him. "You didn't have much trouble with the concept of bloodsuckers."  
  
"Like I said, I believe my eyes. And I didn't believe in soul-sucking fiends, either, until one very nearly stole my company out from under me. Since then, I've found I ignore the supernatural at my peril." //Not to mention that I have yet to determine how to publicly humiliate a 3000 year old Egyptian at Duel Monsters// he thought. //Which I can't do if he's dead. Again. Permanently. Speaking of which...//  
  
"So, was it just me, or did their leader mention a Dark Sacrifice?" Gunn said.  
  
Joey sat back down in the car seat, the look on his face shading from concerned to horrified.  
  
"Not only that," Lorne added, brushing dust from his suit, "but unless I'm mistaken, we're fresh out of leads."  
  
"Hey," Angel said, "We've got information. We'll go back and put it together with whatever Wes, Cordy, and Fred dig up."  
  
"Just hope they're doing better than we are," Gunn muttered, although he made sure the client didn't hear him.  
  
* * *  
  
Yugi watched as Wesley mobilized his troops. "Cordelia, if you wouldn't mind helping me hit the books?"  
  
"Got it."  
  
"Fred, I'll need you online. We're looking for spells with the Latin word 'segregare' as a trigger. They'd include a physical component as well - some sort of ingredient list."  
  
"Already on it."  
  
This was a kind of power Yugi hadn't seen before, subtler than Yami's or Kaiba's but no less potent. The Englishman was still mild, still calm, but his authority was accepted. And unlike the examples set by the stronger personalities in his life, Yugi could see himself wielding this kind of power someday. Wes smiled down at Yugi, and despite himself the boy smiled back, his normally positive personality attempting a comeback.  
  
"Is there anything I can do?" he asked, standing.  
  
"You should rest," Wesley replied. "You don't look well."  
  
"It hurts," the boy confided. "Not just whatever's blocking us. Not just our argument. I'm not used to the emptiness, and it just . . . aches."  
  
//Withdrawal// Wesley thought, but what he said was, "There must be a strong bond between the two of you, then. This bodes well for our eventual success in breaking this barrier." He gripped Yugi's shoulder briefly and then returned to the stack of books he and Cordelia had gathered. He'd no sooner sat down, though, before Fred announced, "Got it!"  
  
The four crowded about Fred's screen.  
  
"There's a few spells use that word t' trigger," she said, "but only one came up when I added in 'psychic barrier.' This one's got an ingredients list, too - the others don't, really. But there's something weird - look what it's used for."  
  
"Possession," Wesley said, looking over her shoulder. "And not demonic possession but ghosts, specifically. This spell is meant to make the vessel repulsive to the possessing spirit, so that it leaves of its own accord. The ingredients then catalyze and create a barrier to keep.... but this spell is useless unless two souls are effectively residing in one body."  
  
And Yugi took a half-step back as Cordelia, Wesley, and Fred looked to him at once.  
  
"Is there something about Yami that we should know?" Wes asked. Cordelia, for her part, frowned slightly, and asked,  
  
"Yugi, what's a soul room?"  
  
* * *  
  
Yami sat on the floor of a cage, a deck of Hoyle playing cards sitting just outside. He held a five-card hand, as did his one remaining captor, the others having dispersed. Unlike his captor, he had to negotiate wrists bound with silvery tape.  
  
"Too bad we got nothin' to play for," the thug said affably. "No cash, no kittens. That leather thing you got on don't have too many pockets, do it?"  
  
"It has enough. And we could make things a little more interesting..." He tried again to gather his magic. "We could play for our minds and souls."  
  
"Sorry, no can do," the man said, as the magic fell away, the Shadow Realm refusing him again.  
  
"What? Why?"  
  
"Hey, I'm all for high stakes," he replied, "but I can't do the soul games bit. I ain't got one."  
  
"How do you mean?"  
  
He snorted. "Thought you knew, kid. Vampire over here. We got no souls. I'm a demon in a corpse, kiddo."  
  
"Undead..." Yami backed up an inch or two.  
  
"Hey, I didn't figure you for a species-ist. We don't gotta play poker if you're gonna be that way."  
  
Yami shrugged. "No problem here." He withdrew a card. "I'll take one." As any good duelist knew, confronting undead monsters merely required a change in strategy. "How about we play for information?"  
  
"Hey, sure, why not? Not like we're gonna torture you - I hear you gotta be healthy 'till they kill ya. Whoops. Guess that one was free."  
  
The vampire did not hear Yami's heart rate rise, though the false organ was capable of it. He was ice cold, collected; he showed no signs of stress to the world. Inside, though, he allowed himself to gulp.  
  
//But better dead than destroying aibou's innocence? // he thought. Then, //No. I don't need to be dead again for that. This is a game now, and these creatures do not get to win. // And the Horus-eye on his forehead glowed.  
  
* * * 


	4. Part 4

Running Credits: Yayoi - thanks again for the feedback and the suggestions with regard to the Japanese, the description, et al. Your changes have been noted and implemented, or will be as soon as the repost registers. Also, to the reviewer who asked for Tea and Tristan - they're still at Domino Airport, trying to get a flight out. I'm afraid they won't get to LA in time for this story - there are so many characters already, and I want to keep the cast size down. If I do a sequel, I'll put them in. :) To everyone else who's reviewed, thank you so much! It means a lot to know you all are out there reading. Now, on to Part 4, where our heroes compare notes. Enjoy, and let me know how you like it!  
  
* * *  
  
Part 4  
  
-----"Shall we play a game?" -"Joshua," War Games, 1983-----  
  
"...and that's when I realized who and what Yami was," Yugi finished.  
  
"So you two have a body timeshare, but you can split too?" Cordelia confirmed, to Yugi's nod.  
  
"A very unusual arrangement," Wes said. "I suppose the Puzzle's magic enables it. It must be a great deal more powerful than my texts suggest."  
  
"Anyway, why should we jump to negative conclusions?" Cordelia said, waving a hand. "Dennis possessed me once, and it really wasn't so bad."  
  
"Cordelia, what you and Dennis do on your own time isn't really..."  
  
"To fight his evil mom!" Cordelia exclaimed.  
  
"Oh, yes, that."  
  
"Dennis?" Yugi asked.  
  
"My ghost. Haunts my apartment. Long story."  
  
Fred opened her mouth, but the door slamming open stole whatever she was about to add. Angel, Lorne, Seto, Joey, and Gunn walked in, not a great deal the worse for wear, but somewhat dustier than they'd been a few hours previous.  
  
"Vamp dust?" Cordelia asked.  
  
"Yep."  
  
"I'll get the Hoover," Fred said, standing.  
  
"Any progress?" Angel asked, and Wes responded.  
  
"We have a good idea what spell was used to separate the two. And Angel? There's something about Yugi and Yami that you ought to know."  
  
"You told him?" Joey asked.  
  
"What Yami is? Kind of," the spiky-haired boy admitted. "But they pretty much figured it out on their own."  
  
"He's really a spirit possessing Yugi's body," Cordelia said. "Only, he can go corporeal too."  
  
"Gotcha," Gunn said. Joey just stared at him.  
  
"So that's what you weren't telling us," Angel said to Kaiba. "Why not? Might've sped things up."  
  
"Oh, perhaps because you might think we were *insane!*" the young businessman replied. "Locating a person is a usual job for an investigative firm. Locating a spirit that sometimes possesses a high- schooler, well, you specialize in the supernatural, but some might find that especially bizarre."  
  
"Around here? Nah."  
  
"Well, then, what would you call a job locating a kidnapped ancient spirit that happens to be next in line for a vampire cult's sacrifice in honor of their chosen child?"  
  
Gunn snorted. "Tuesday."  
  
"Kidnapped?" Yugi said, then, eyes widening, "Sacrifice!?" He felt a strong wave of vertigo, then. The stress of that instant would have called Yami to him for protection, only he was gone, and the anxiety was on his behalf. He stood, staggered, and Fred caught him, vacuum in one hand, boy in the other. Joey rushed to Yugi's other side.  
  
"We'll get to him, Yug.' Don't you worry." Which didn't stop the worrying at all, but did add a compensating thread of support. Yugi gave him a wan smile.  
  
"The Connor cult, then," Wes said.  
  
Angel nodded. "They think sacrificing Yami's going to turn my son evil."  
  
Yugi looked up, sharply. "Yami's not evil!"  
  
"Wouldn't have to be," Lorne replied. "From what I'm getting of your little dichotomy, you're oriented towards light, and he's aimed towards darkness. And babies are real malleable. Even if he's not evil, that orientation can be pushed there without too much trouble. Just need the right magic."  
  
"Well, we know the how and the who," Wes interjected. "Can we put that together for the where, I wonder?"  
  
"Can you break the spell?" Angel asked. A new tenseness filled his frame as the threat to his child became more real.  
  
Wes sighed. "It's far more like a curse than a traditional spell. It wears off by itself in a few weeks, which I doubt we have. The theory is that the possessing spirit will be hopelessly lost or somehow trapped by that point. Still, as with most curses, there's a loophole. It can be overcome by force of will, mutual desire for reunion from the parties involved." He pushed his glasses up. "My guess is that clause is meant to prevent just this sort of misuse. This spell is white magic. It's meant to be used for good, and it's been perverted."  
  
"But it's working," Fred put in. "It's convinced Yami that he's bad for Yugi, so we're not going to get that force of will thing to break the spell and find him from here. And when we do find him..."  
  
"Just let me talk to him." The room hushed at Yugi's quiet voice. "He'll listen this time. I know he will."  
  
"Yeah he will, if I gotta hold him down to do it," Joey said. He squeezed Yugi's hand protectively and Yugi squeezed back. "Even if I end up in traction," Joey finished, under his breath.  
  
"All right. So, anyone know anything that knows anything about vampire messiah cults?" Angel asked. To stares from his own crew, he added, "Other then the one I was in, okay? Anyway, that was way more Darla's thing."  
  
"You're a..." Kaiba began.  
  
"Later, okay?"  
  
"Fine." The electronics magnate rubbed his forehead and sat on the edge of a desk.  
  
"Well, it's not a messiah cult, but Harmony called me yesterday from Mexico, asking for cash. She's still in her cult."  
  
"Harmony. As in, 'Don't come anywhere near my city or I'll kill you,' Harmony?" Gunn asked.  
  
"Yeah, well, I still don't like her, and she did sell me out, but, on the other hand, she needs money and we've got it." Cordelia looked at Kaiba. "Right? Right. We'll send it Western Union. Believe me, I don't want Harm around either."  
  
"I might have one or two favors to call in, too," Lorne added. "I hate these zealots, but fortunately most of them hate each other. And I've still got a connection or two from Cult Karaoke Night."  
  
"Right, then. Let's hit the phones. We're not lost yet," Wes said.  
  
* * *  
  
"You ain't lost yet, kid." The vampire sighed. If they'd been playing for kittens, he'd be down twelve tabbies by now. "OK, ask another one."  
  
"You said this cult wants to sacrifice me. They're religious vampires. But you're not one of them."  
  
"Nope, strictly hired muscle." He leaned in close to the cage, to the boy whose forehead revealed a luminescent eye pattern at infrequent, disquieting intervals. "You ask me, kid, they're all a bunch of whackos. Total nutcases."  
  
"Who do you work for?"  
  
"Me? Actually, I work for their lawyers. Boss lady said I could take this side job when she heard the details. They own this joint, too." He looked down at his cards. "I fold. Ask another one."  
  
"Are all the staff members vampires?"  
  
"Nope. We got humans, demons, all kinds."  
  
"Hmm..." the boy replied. "That might explain..."  
  
"Explain what?"  
  
Yami grinned, though he seemed slightly distracted. "If you want me to answer, you'll actually have to win a hand." And as part of him focused on the game, another part of him sensed...something, the same something that had tickled his other-senses, prompting his last query. The Horus-eye on his forehead glowed again. Not his Light, it wasn't his Light...but something...there!  
  
* * *  
  
The slight, mocha-skinned woman with large eyes and close-cropped hair leafed through the newspaper. As a telepath on Wolfram and Hart's payroll, she didn't have much to do between the random loyalty purges. They kept her busy riding the safe-house circuit, randomly monitoring prisoners for thoughts of escape. Such was her task this evening, but it was boring as all get-out. She had one more hour out of three at this location, and then she'd be moving on. She yawned, and let her thoughts brush against the boy in the other room. It was hardly worth her time...whatever magical blocks the firm had put on him made it highly unlikely she'd get anything detailed. She brushed against him again, and received the shock of her life.  
  
He was aware of her.  
  
//Shall we play a game? //  
  
* * *  
  
"Okay, Harm says she heard these guys were out in Bellflower. Or Redondo Beach. Or somewhere between Bellflower and Redondo Beach. And we owe her five grand."  
  
"Hmm. Still a lot of territory there."  
  
"That's not all," Gunn added. "Compton's between Bellflower and Redondo Beach. I could poke around Compton no problem; rest of y'all might stand out a little."  
  
"Lorne, do you have anything?" Wes asked.  
  
"Not yet, hon."  
  
"Well, maybe some of us could head that way, keep on the cell, and maybe see if Yugi picks anything up..."  
  
"Aaaaargh!" All eyes on Joey as his hand punched through an old, thin end table.  
  
"You're paying for that," Kaiba remarked.  
  
"Sorry." An apology definitely directed to the Angel crew, not to anywhere in Kaiba's vicinity. "'S just...I'm gettin' so frustrated!" And now Yugi had his hand on Joey's shoulder, switching roles, giving comfort.  
  
"We'll find him. I know it." He looked Joey in the eyes. "I mean, what's the most important thing we've learned since I got this puzzle?"  
  
"To have faith in our friends," the blond replied softly. Yugi nodded solemnly  
  
"Faith," Angel echoed, staring at them. "Faith. Fred," the vampire said, "check for abandoned churches between the South Bay and South Central."  
  
"Been there, done that?" Cordelia asked softly. Angel nodded.  
  
"Vampires and religion. A desecrated church - it'll help power their spells. That's where they'll be."  
  
"There could be a million of them."  
  
"Maybe in Sunnydale," Gunn said. "'Round here, a church stays vacant too long, bam, instant IKEA."  
  
"Three!" Fred shouted. Then more quietly, "Well, nine, but I went ahead and cross-referenced by churches owned by Wolfram and Hart." She shrugged and smiled. "Since they're almost always at the bottom of everything, I figured it could save us some time."  
  
"I've heard that name," Kaiba said. "That was the law firm retained by Industrial Illusions under Pegasus."  
  
"I have no idea who that is, but I'm guessing, bad guy?" Joey nodded at Cordelia.  
  
"All right," Wes said, "We start with those three and work outward to the other six. If only we knew what timetable we were working with. I fear time is very short. Frankly, we could really use a break."  
  
"What, like a bunch of bad guys who caught on to us and followed us here? Yeah, I suppose if we're all alive after the inevitable life-and-death battle, I guess we might have one left over to question," Gunn said as he rifled through the weapons locker.  
  
"Hey, it doesn't always work like..."  
  
But Angel was cut off as the door slammed open again.  
  
* * *  
  
Finally, a break. His undead jailer had left, possibly to rest, possibly to deal with the distraction. The woman had opened herself to his punishments, and had hopefully been quite distracting once he'd finished with her. Thus he'd finally been able to take a few measures against what the cult had planned for him.  
  
//"They're going to use me to taint a child's soul?"  
  
"Sounds like. Could be real magic, could be B.S. You know how I feel. But they think you're the embodiment of darkness or some crap like that. Me, I'm just the muscle. What do I know? Anyway, your move."//  
  
Darken a child's soul and taint his heart. //Like I'm tainting Yugi. // But something about that thought rang increasingly false as it repeated in his mind. //Still, I can't allow it. //  
  
His outfit didn't hold much, true, but it certainly did conceal a deck of cards. And the single card in his sleeve might have an edge fine enough to attack the silver tape at his ankles and wrists.  
  
For the sake of the unnamed child, at least, he had to win free of this madness.  
  
* * * 


	5. Part 5

Running Credits: To VYY - Oh, but we must have cliffhangers. They're all kinds of fun...for me! Muahahahaha! Yeah, I'm evil. And, to Yayoi, yeah, at times all the Buffy-verse / Angel-verse characters sound a little valley- girl. But I have re-worded the other problem sentence. Thanks again for your feedback! All right, so, next up this chapter: there's a break in the case, and you'll finally get to see the argument between Yugi and Yami Yugi that started the trouble. Also, I couldn't import a madness-causing character to the Angel-verse without including its most famous looney...trust me, those of you that don't know from Angel, she's really like that. All right? Are you all ready for part 5? I can't heeeaar youuuu...  
  
* * *  
  
Part 5  
  
-----"When one ceases from conflict, whether because he has won, because he has lost, or because he cares no more for the game, the virtue passes out of him." -Charles Horton Cooley, Life and the Student-----  
  
-----"Half this game is 90% mental." -Yogi Berra-----  
  
The door's violent opening drew every eye in the lobby. Those with weapons reached for them, those without braced themselves. They tensed for the threat, and found...  
  
...a slight, mocha-skinned woman with large eyes and close-cropped hair.  
  
"That's the big bad?" Gunn said, incredulously.  
  
"I know her," Angel said. "Saw her on one of my visits to Wolfram and Hart. She's one of the telepaths they use for their loyalty purges."  
  
The woman grinned wide, too wide. "Yeah. I...read minds...read the corners, read the shadows...got stuck this time. Stuck in the shadows and it's sooo cold." She shivered and giggled at once. "Gotta find the Light, find the light from the Darkness. It's so cold...because I lost..." Suddenly she sobbed. "I lost, and then I *broke the rules!*"  
  
"Okay, something is definitely wrong here," Cordelia said. "Fred, you speak looney. Getting anything out of this we're not?"  
  
"Sorry," the slim brunette replied. "I think she's a different kinda nuts than I was."  
  
"But you recognize the symptoms, don't you?" Wesley asked quietly, looking carefully at Yugi, who watched the woman with sad eyes. "What's happened to her?"  
  
"What's happened...is Yami's justice. This...is the knowledge he's trying to keep from me. This is what he's trying to protect me from. It's why he ran away." Yugi took a deep breath, the disastrous afternoon replaying itself behind his eyes.  
  
*~~~~~Earlier that morning~~~~~*  
  
//Los Angeles had a homeless population much larger than Domino City's. One of the disenfranchised had asked Yugi for money as he'd followed Seto into the hotel, and Yugi'd given it. All the while the man stared into the middle distance, muttering about red eyes, gold eyes, and falling, always falling. He'd seemed familiar somehow, but it hadn't crystallized until after they'd checked in, after 'segregare.' Joey'd gone for ice, and Yami Yugi split from his other, sitting next to him on the bed.  
  
"What's troubling you, aibou?"  
  
"That man, today. I think I knew him."  
  
"Really?" And the taller, darker reflection seemed almost nervous.  
  
"Yes, I think so. It's been years, but I think he might have been that man that tried to harm me right after I freed you."  
  
Then Yugi's next words blew Yami's world apart.  
  
"I think he was a man you drove insane."  
  
Quick pulse from his false heart, shallow breathing. Was this panic? He'd never felt it before.  
  
"What ..." was all the spirit said. And his heart somehow sped up and sank at once as Yugi continued.  
  
"It's okay," Yugi said, smiling softly. "You'd only just been freed. You weren't really even conscious. I know you do that sometimes, but only when it's necessary."  
  
"How can you remember? I blocked..."  
  
"The oldest blocks began to dissolve months ago, Yami. We've been one too long for me not to begin to remember what you shielded." The Punishment Games. The obliteration. The insanity.  
  
That smile. That sweet, accepting smile.  
  
"How can you approve? I stole his mind, crushed his soul! It's my cruelest punishment." The strong, clear voice had dwindled to a strangled whisper.  
  
"But you did it to save us all."  
  
"Oh, aibou." //My pure companion. My Light. What have I done to you?// Yami backed away in horror, self-directed. "These memories, these thoughts, this vengeance. They can't be a part of you!"  
  
"But you're a part of me." The implication: We're brothers. There is nothing to forgive. The interpretation: I have become what you sought to shield me from. Your darkness corrupts absolutely.  
  
"Perhaps...oh, aibou. Perhaps I have been so too long!" And he was at the door. He threw it open and ran, scattering ice and a stunned Joey across the hallway.  
  
A connection attenuating, disappearing. Horrified realization. "Jou! Something's very wrong!"//  
  
*~~~~~End flashback~~~~~*  
  
"So Yami drove this woman mad."  
  
Yugi sighed. "Yes, I think so." He met Wesley's eyes. "He only does it when it's needed or just! It's not something he uses to hurt innocent people. Please, believe me."  
  
Wesley considered the boy for a moment. "Still, he feels your knowledge and acceptance of this power taints you, because he's used it on your behalf."  
  
"That's it. It's not right! I have to make him see...I know I can make him see, break the spell. I know I can reach him." In Yugi's eyes, hope warred and combined with a desperate determination.  
  
"Did he send this woman to find you? She located us very quickly. And if I'm interpreting her correctly, she's obsessed with seeking you out."  
  
"That doesn't quite track, but I'll tell you what does." Lorne sat beside Yugi on the couch, where he and Cordelia had formed brackets, offering support. "I've heard of some critters, no offense, that project insanity like this. Some of them always gets into their victims. Now, if I get everything you've said about Yami, he misses you as much as you miss him, he's just in massive denial. So this girl got that, and she got..." the green demon stood. "She got the connection too! Maybe it's 'cause she's a telepath - I don't know. But she cloned the link between you guys, the un- spelled version. Question is..."  
  
"Did she get both ends of it," Angel finished. He stood and began to head to the door, pulling the cringing telepath with him. "Fred, stay with Connor. Everyone else, find a car. We're heading southwest. And *you* are going to help us reunite the Darkness and the Light," he added, yanking on the woman's wrist.  
  
As they headed for the door, Seto Kaiba murmured to Wesley, "Again, aren't you the boss?"  
  
"I encourage initiative."  
  
* * *  
  
The tape gave way with a satisfying snap, and the cage lock yielded to a piece of gold wire from his jacket. He pushed the door open slowly, so that its hinges would make no sound. But when he won free, exited, and turned, he found himself face to face with a woman who had come upon him equally silently.  
  
//Hmm. A new player. //  
  
"Who are you?" he asked. "Will you try to hold me here?"  
  
She just giggled. Her eyes were large, dark, and deep.  
  
"Wicked, wicked Lilah can't know I'm here," she whispered conspiratorially. "It's a game, you know. It's all a game." She swayed slowly, like a snake before a bird. "I shouldn't be here. Eyes like needles, like knives...he's coming for you and he'll kill me if he finds me. But I had to come to see the king." And she curtseyed low. "You'll meet Lilah soon. She's very pretty, like a razor."  
  
A dull ache as horror pooled in his chest. //Oh. This is the face of madness. // Poetic justice? Those eyes...  
  
She raised a sharply manicured finger, to point directly at Yami's third eye. "Empty in there, so empty. You're missing someone. It aches, doesn't it ache so?" His body felt numb. His eyes tracked the nail. "There's nothing in my soul room, nothing at all. Come keep me company, I'm all alone." She was so close now. Whispering, "Be in me."  
  
Then someone was grabbing him, pulling him away, binding him again before his limbs responded. He shook himself, conscious again, too late. His jailor had returned.  
  
He was thrown against the cage wall to see the man grow a demon's face and confront the woman, likewise transformed.  
  
"Look, Drusilla, I don't care how famous you are, this guy's my meal ticket! You eat him, I don't get paid."  
  
"Oh, I just like to pretend," she replied. "It wasn't meant to be, but I can still pretend." Her face changed again. Human-seeming, she looked back at Yami. "You'll meet the Fool and the Queen of Swords, at least, before you leave these shores. And maybe Death himself. Wouldn't that be a party! You should have tea." She giggled again, and put a finger to her lips. "Shhhh!" Then she turned and ran out the room's side door.  
  
Yami pulled himself up to a sitting position. "Who was that?"  
  
"A legend," his jailor replied. "Drusilla. She's beautiful, cruel and completely insane. She did some contract work for my bosses, but they canned her after she ate about twenty of 'em." He shrugged. "Lucky for me, she got curious about you, lucky for you I got back quick. Must be more to you than meets the eye, kid, 'specially if it was you who put the whammy on whatshername, before." He scratched his head. "Oh, yeah, she's a seer too. Never been wrong, far as I know." He shot Yami a sidelong look. "Even if you weren't about to get sacrificed, I don't know if I'd go making too many long term plans."  
  
And there came a knock at the door.  
  
* * *  
  
The woman had begun to hum softly to herself, making Lorne's job much easier. He just had to look through mad, nauseating emotions ("*Don't* throw up in his car," he told himself) and find the copied link through the twisty, wrong eddies. "Man, he did a number on her."  
  
"She's one of *them.*" From Angel, driving. Joey looked at him, then turned back to watching his friend in the back seat.  
  
"Oh, I'm not saying it was undeserved. I'm just saying that we should be careful around this guy, especially if he's hurt and half-conscious." Lorne sighed. The woman kept humming. He wished she'd stop. He wasn't a violent Pylean, but he wished he could make her stop. He shook himself. The link. Focus. Yugi, next to him, pressed something into his hands, and the link strengthened, became a beacon. "That way! Door number two, right?" The vampire nodded, and sped up. Lorne looked down.  
  
"Hunh. The puzzle. Good thinking, kid."  
  
Yugi smiled faintly, but the expression fell away. "He's still alive. You felt it too. But..."  
  
"I know, I know. You wish you knew how much time we had."  
  
* * *  
  
"Looks like time's up, kid." Yami's vampire jailor rose to his feet. He motioned for the boy to stand as well, but he did not. The vampire shrugged.  
  
First in were three vampires, demon-faced, garbed in ceremonial robes. Behind them walked a human woman in a business suit, a tall, elegant, cold- eyed brunette. //Pretty. Like a razor. // She was chatting amiably with a grey-haired male vampire.  
  
"Yes, spells of this sort tend to be relatively specific contracts, binding the powers of darkness. In my legal opinion, this one should be valid, but since you wrote it Wolfram and Hart can't issue any guarantees. You have signed the waiver?" He nodded. "Good." Then the woman smiled and greeted Yami's captor.  
  
"Nice job, Ralph. Complications?"  
  
'Ralph?' Yami mouthed. Ralph shrugged again, almost sheepishly.  
  
"Yeah, Lilah. He tried to bust out, 'course, and he whammied Amelia."  
  
"Damn telepaths give me the creeps anyway." She turned to one of the other vampires. "Does he meet with your approval?"  
  
The leader pulled some dust out of a pouch and blew it in Yami's direction. It swirled about his puzzle and glowed a deep indigo before dissipating. "He is the Darkness we seek." He leaned in and sniffed at the cage. "And unharmed. He is ready. We are satisfied."  
  
"Well, that's all I need to hear," Lilah said. She withdrew a check from her briefcase and handed it to Ralph. He pocketed the money and looked down at his captive.  
  
"Sorry, kid. Nothing personal."  
  
"I know." Neither rage nor forgiveness in Yami's voice, merely a statement of fact.  
  
And Ralph was gone.  
  
"Well, looks like you boys bonded," Lilah said. "Now c'mon. Your public awaits." Three vampires entered the cage to pull him out, and even with the boy bound, it took some doing. Lilah met his glare as he was yanked to his feet. Then she waited for the vamps to precede her out of the small room and into the hallway. As they pulled Yami past her, she leaned in and murmured,  
  
"Confidentially, we've been pulling a lot more on rent for this place since we put in the bleachers."  
  
And in the distance, Yami heard a dull roar.  
  
* * *  
  
Wesley kept his S.U.V. right on Angel's tail. This was especially imperative as the good vampire had no idea how to use his cell phone, Lorne was busy, and Yugi didn't have the number. Gunn rode shotgun; literally, since he was sitting next to Wesley's shotgun (Kaiba had his in the back). Wes hung a sharp right and tried to tune out the pre-battle conversation from the back seat.  
  
"So, Seto, right?" The billionaire turned to Cordelia and nodded, allowing the informality since the woman was insanely attractive and smiling at him. "What brings you to the States?"  
  
"You're making small talk now?"  
  
"Helps with the mortal terror."  
  
"Oh. You get a lot of that, then?"  
  
"Occupational hazard. So, spill."  
  
"I thought I mentioned. I'm a former Duel Monsters world champion. Now that the game's catching on in the U.S., I'm touring children's hospitals and pediatric wings with a few other duelists. We're teaching strategy and tactics to the patients who play."  
  
"That's it? No offense, but you don't really seem like the type. I've dated civic-minded billionaires, and they were all a lot more..."  
  
"Compassionate?" He snorted.  
  
"Boring," Cordelia replied. "But, that, too."  
  
"Oh, this isn't for the masses," Kaiba replied. "I let my little brother near my public relations department, something that will *never* happen again, and he cooked up this little scheme. It's a PR stunt, a country- wide photo op, and I'm only doing it because he asked me to." His eyes narrowed, aiming a look at Cordelia that was not quite a glare. "I'm not a white knight. If you want that, go find Yugi and his friends."  
  
Cordelia looked back at him with the expression of a woman who had seen far worse things than the patented Seto Kaiba stare. "No, you're not. But you're honest. That's important."  
  
The car's sudden deceleration interrupted them. "We're here," Wesley said, sliding out of the driver's seat, and noticing that there were indeed far too many cars in the parking lot, several with illegally-tinted front windows. He and his passengers moved to join Angel's group. The mind reader Amelia had been bound and gagged.  
  
"How many you figure?" Gunn asked.  
  
Angel was still for a second. Then, "About thirty, I think. At least we've got the element of surprise."  
  
A thump came from atop Wesley's S.U.V., behind all of them. An unfamiliar voice said, "Hi."  
  
* * * 


	6. Part 6

Part 6  
  
Running Credits: Yayoi, you're kicking butt lately! Thanks so much for catching my random gaffes; as to the grammar you're right on, except in one place. "Some of them always gets into their victims," refers to a portion of the attacker's personality, not more than one attacker, so it's singular. I think. Re: the characterization within the flashback; I switched Yami's thoughts and words around like you said, and you're right, it works much better.  
  
Funny, what I thought would tweak folks was the fact that he got whammied by Drusilla. Hypnosis, by the way, is a *very* rare talent for Angel-verse vampires; Dru developed it because she was a wee bit psychic even before Angel vamped her back in his bad old days. (Yeah, Angel. That's why Angel has a Thing about Dru, and Dru has a Thing about Angel.) Besides her, we've only seen one vampire that can do it, The Master, a Season One Buffy baddie. Angel fans feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.  
  
Also, I haven't heard anything about this yet, so I'll resort to fishing. What do you all think about the use of chapter quotes? It's not something I do often, (at least, not outside of Invisible Man fiction, where it's a tradition,) but I thought it might be fun. Anyway, on to Chapter 6, where the climactic battle begins! Can I get a hell, yeah!?  
  
* * *  
  
Part 6  
  
-----"The game is up." -William Shakespeare, "Cymbeline", Act 3 scene 3-----  
  
"Hi," said the vampire crouched on the roof of the large jeep. He eyed all the weapons aimed in his direction. "Look, y' might wanna listen, here, before you ice me. I coulda kept goin.'"  
  
Angel looked at Lorne. "No deception," the demon replied. "Let's hear him out, huh?"  
  
"Right," the vampire said. "Okay, your buddy's gonna be in the center of that building over there," he said, pointing to the leftmost building in the dilapidated church complex. "'Bout thirty vamps in bleachers and a human chick," he looked at Angel, "I think you've met her."  
  
"Why help us?"  
  
"'Cause I already got paid. Soulless, y'know?" He grinned. "I got no loyalty. And I kinda liked the kid."  
  
"Oh, just one more thing," Angel asked, and suddenly he was at the other vampire's back, a hand in his hair and a sword at his neck. "How did you know I was coming?"  
  
The vampire gasped. "Dru says hi. Y'know, your eyes still creep her out."  
  
Angel spun him around. "Drusilla's here!?"  
  
"Naw. She booked."  
  
"Can we get on with this?" Kaiba interrupted.  
  
"Right." Angel shoved the other vampire off the car's roof and he rolled with the motion, twisting like a cat and running.  
  
"You're lettin' him go?" Gunn asked. Then, "Stupid question. Just hope it wasn't a stupid move."  
  
"Fight might be heard," Angel replied. Then Wes and Angel traded a long look. Slightly, almost imperceptibly, Wes nodded, ceding battle command. "All right, kids," Angel said, smiling grimly, "here's the plan...."  
  
"One thing," Kaiba said. "Who's Drusilla?"  
  
Angel turned to him, and then looked beyond, to Yugi. His eyes were deep, empty caverns. "Madness," he replied.  
  
* * *  
  
Yami still had most of Ralph's playing cards, and he sawed surreptitiously at his bindings. It was a hard thing to do unnoticed since he was strapped to an altar at the center of the room. The grey-haired vampire had his back to the altar. He held a knife aloft and chanted softly, the crowd adding a word at occasional intervals.  
  
Lilah, the human woman, pulled a chair up next to Yami's head and sat. "Agonizing, huh? These things can take longer than Catholic weddings."  
  
"Then why are you still here?"  
  
"I'm a lawyer. I'm paid by the hour."  
  
"Oh."  
  
"Anyway, you're interesting. Not evil, per se, but part of some kind of metaphysical fusion of dark and light. Wonder how they got you apart?"  
  
"They?"  
  
"You don't even know, do you?"  
  
"Neither do you, obviously. You're just trying to wring one last bit of information out of me before I die." //They? I left. I had to. What does she mean? //  
  
"Smart...whatever you are." Lilah leaned forward and ran a hand over his leather-wrapped chest. "Cute, too. Pity."  
  
"I won't forget this, Lilah."  
  
"You won't have a lot of time to remember it." The chanting swelled. "That knife, by the way? That's rented too. Should kill you if you're mortal, and fry you if you're not. So, revenge? Not seeing it happen."  
  
"Well, then, before I die, I have a question."  
  
"Shoot."  
  
"If a vampire named Drusilla said that a man with eyes like knives was coming for me, what would that mean?"  
  
The chair clattered to the floor and Lilah was on her feet. "ANGEL!"  
  
The crowd went silent. A voice directly behind her answered, "You rang?"  
  
* * *  
  
Lilah whirled and got her wrists grabbed for her trouble.  
  
"So, did anybody listen when I told them what would happen if they hurt my kid?"  
  
"They're just ... changing his alignment a little. It won't hurt."  
  
"Well, he might feel a slight tingling sensation," put in the vampire priest.  
  
"Phil, you aren't helping."  
  
"My son is a happy, healthy baby boy, and he's going to stay that way," Angel replied, smiling as he felt wrist bones begin to give. Lilah tried to twist out of his arms. "You might want to put that knife down."  
  
"You think I care what happens to her? She's a lawyer."  
  
"Hmm. Point taken." Angel threw Lilah several feet and launched himself at Phil. They struggled for the knife as vampires began to descend from the bleachers.  
  
"Apologies, father of the Miracle Child, but you shall not leave here alive. You are one and we are many."  
  
"Uh-huh. And you did know that I don't work alone, right?"  
  
A vampire shouted from near the top row, "I smell people! They're everywhere!" Phil, distracted, looked up, and Angel released one hand, only to plunge its wrist-mounted stake into Phil's chest.  
  
Another vampire picked up Phil's fallen blade. "You shall not stop our...sacrifice?" But the altar was empty, save for its velvet cover and some sliced duct tape. "Where'd he go?"  
  
Then the bleachers collapsed.  
  
* * * 


	7. Part 7

Running Credits: Who do I always thank up here? Right, Yayoi :). And, in answer to your question, the cult rented the knife from Wolfram and Hart. W&H have unbelievable resources; it's part of their schtick. Also, for now, I'm leaving "leather-wrapped" in the last chapter, but I'm thinking about it and may pull it later. To NC: Yeah, destruction goood.... To Red, Jade, and EK, thanks so much! And to Lena, keep your pants on, more has just arrived ;)  
  
To wit, folks, the penultimate chapter is below. Again, I'm expecting one or two longtime YGO fans to yell at me for a couple of reasons - we'll see. :) In part, it ain't easy to try to keep Y. Yugi in character while writing a heartfelt reconciliation (c'mon, who didn't think they'd reconcile? Hands?); on the other hand, he has just been ensorcelled, hypnotized, almost sacrificed, and he's been up all night, too, so there might be some excuse for letting even his emotions ride a little closer to the surface. What *else* might tweak you? I think I'll leave that up to you guys and dive behind this handy Plexiglas...  
  
Also, directly following this chapter, The End! That's right. I was going to make you all wait another day for it, but the end of this chapter is kind of a cheat, and with ff.net being like it's being, I thought I better get it all out there. Especially since I'm going on vacation in a couple of days, and if I left everything hanging for a week and a half, I think some of you would hurt me.  
  
And now, part 7 of The Games Angels Play. This one's for all the marbles.  
  
* * *  
  
Part 7  
  
-----"Game over, man! Game over!" -Private Hudson, Aliens, 1986-----  
  
Joey twirled the screwdriver through his fingers and grinned. Then he retreated behind Wesley and his shotgun. Cordelia did likewise, only she staked a vamp with her screwdriver as she moved. Seto readied his weapon as the first vampires rose from the ruined stands. There was only so much use for the guns - some vamps had left the bleachers already, and the rest of the AI crew plus guests engaged them in quarters too tight to fire. In the back of the room, though, they could shoot vampires without shooting one another.  
  
Behind the altar, Yami found Lilah as she moved for the door. He spared a quick glance behind him and saw an unfamiliar dark-skinned man plunge a stake into a monster's heart. The thing exploded into dust. //Ah. // Then movement, and he grabbed the lawyer and pulled her to face him.  
  
"Ow! Not the wrists!"  
  
"Would you like me to let you go?"  
  
"Well, yeah. Unless I'm more important than your Light."  
  
//WHAT!?// And something tingled in the strange haze surrounding his dormant bond. But nothing, nothing distracted him in the midst of a game.  
  
"Time is a bit different here." And Lilah looked around, to find a strangely washed-out world. Events outside, seen through swirling shadows, seemed to have frozen in place. "We'll play a game. Win and I'll let you go. Lose and you're mine."  
  
Don't commit to anything, her lawyer's training advised her. "What game?"  
  
"I'll make it simple for you." He smirked, and her eyes narrowed. "I think, high card." He drew Ralph's Hoyle deck and shuffled it. "You'll draw blind, twice. I'll do likewise, once. You can keep your first card, or discard, without seeing mine."  
  
Wait, her training said. But a new, reckless voice replied, "What the hell. Sounds fair enough."  
  
He cut and drew, as did she.  
  
Lilah smirked back. "Queen of Diamonds." And she *felt* that if she turned, she'd see a mountain of gems at her back. Interesting. "Your move."  
  
He drew, looked at his card, and his mouth quirked up at the corner. Then he closed his eyes and leaned back against nothing, hands behind his head. "Take your time," he said.  
  
She did, appreciating the svelte, leather-clad view. Then she very slowly and quietly reached a hand towards the deck, turning up a card at its corner. An ace! No way she could loo-  
  
"You're cheating," and she looked up to find his red eyes still closed, but his third eye glowing. "Hardly a blind draw. I do believe that constitutes a violation of the rules." All eyes open now, and suddenly it was very hard to move.  
  
"Not terribly illuminating," he continued, "but then I hardly needed this game to know that you were selfish, grasping, and completely amoral."  
  
"Pot to kettle? You're black," she ground out, feeling his magic surround her. The potential diamonds behind her might have been teetering, about to topple, to crush or suffocate.  
  
"But now," he continued, "I get to punish you." He reached a hand to her and she felt something constrict, start to shatter. "Wait! Does this have any affect on my soul?"  
  
"Soul, mind, spirit, oh, yes, it should. But you'll see in just a second - "  
  
Her breath came in panting gasps, but she reached into her briefcase and withdrew a document in blood-red ink. "You should have specified. My soul isn't mine to wager." And the power began to ebb.  
  
"What?!"  
  
"It's 98% mortgaged. 50% to my employer and 48% to assorted dark powers." She shrugged, and time began to resume its normal flow.  
  
"That still leaves two percent."  
  
"Your point?"  
  
"I'll take it." His hand clenched into a fist and Lilah collapsed. Her words, though, hung in the air. //My Light. Yugi - he can't be here!?// Then he turned and looked directly into the eyes of Seto Kaiba.  
  
* * *  
  
The brown-haired billionaire smirked at the taller, harder version of Yugi Mutoh. "Well, looks like you're in my debt." He flicked his eyes to the chaos around them. "I'm funding this little rescue."  
  
Yami Yugi was silent, his red eyes narrowing as they found Yugi, protected by three of the newcomers, gamely holding a stake. Then he closed his hand around Kaiba's neck and slammed the blue-eyed man into the wall.  
  
"You brought him HERE!? Into this?" It was a feral growl more suited to Yami Bakura. Yami squeezed.  
  
"You selfish bastard! He was dying by inches!" Kaiba gasped, and Yami's grip loosened. Kaiba pushed him back and Yami scrambled for purchase.  
  
Blue eyes on red, and Kaiba was not backing down. "He needs you. He was blocked from you, but he would have wandered Los Angeles at night, looking for you, until someone or something killed him. I found him backup. You didn't even think. You. Just. Ran," Seto spat. "The mighty game king. Get your hands off of me." He shook out of Yami's loosened grasp. Vampires circled them, and the quarters were too close for his shotgun, so Kaiba pulled a stake. "It might interest you to know that you've been manipulated. These things used magic to keep you apart for their little ceremony." He staked one vampire, and then handed his stake to Yami. The dark boy looked at it, then withdrew a card from his new deck. His vampiric opponent smirked, and kept smirking as he crumbled to dust, a thrown card lacerating his heart.  
  
"Nice. Now, let's go keep my employees alive. You and Mutoh have things to discuss."  
  
As he joined the fight, Yami saw Joey as well, fighting alongside a woman and what looked like a Duel Monster. And Seto's employees didn't seem to need much saving. The vampires were being beaten back, converting to dust as the tall black man and a white man with glasses decapitated the creatures. Then, suddenly, the beasts were gone, and he was face to face with Yugi.  
  
* * *  
  
The violet-eyed boy was dusty and flushed from the battle. He nearly glowed with the inner radiance for which Yami named him Hikari, his Light. It was wrong, Yugi juxtaposed with these ruins, all this destruction. Yami began to back away, but two things stopped him. There was the human barrier at his back formed by Kaiba and Joey, the most unlikely of allies. And then there was the deep, deep pain in Yugi's eyes.  
  
"Please," the boy whispered. "Don't leave me again."  
  
Angel, Lorne, Cordelia, Gunn, and Wesley formed a loose ring around them, but the two had eyes only for one another. Imperfect mirrors, one radiating a light that the other seemed to absorb, they stood locked together.  
  
"No! This is wrong. Again, you're surrounded by pain and destruction." //And it is all because of me.//  
  
"Yami, what you're feeling isn't real! Don't you see?" the boy implored. "They used a spell to break us apart, and it's still working! You're the master of games and strategy and you can't see that?"  
  
"Maybe it is still working, and maybe it's for the best!" The taller boy's voice was rough. "You know...you found out what I do for you. How I hurt, how I kill! Even the smallest bit of acceptance - I'm corrupting you! What the dark Bakura can't even manage to do to his companion, I'm doing right now, out of my best damned intentions! Isn't that the phrase? About the road to Hell? How many times have I proclaimed those gates open...and how many times were you watching and learning...." His voice trailed off in a choke. A hand lodged in red and black hair and tugged hard, and red eyes turned completely inward.  
  
"Yami. Yami, look at me. Please." The boy's voice was soft, almost musical, compelling. Almost against his will the dark reflection turned back. "Please, you've got to stop this. Stop thinking that I'm perfect! I'm not, and I never was. I am your light, and I always want to be your light, but I'm human too." Liquid violet eyes entreated, red eyes tightened with stress. "I don't know all of what you do when you shut me out, but I know you only do...final things...when they're necessary or deserved. I trust you. I'm sorry if that shakes what you think of me but it's part of who I am." He broke eye contact briefly, looking down, but moving closer. "You and I - we're yin and yang. A little darkness in the center of the light, and so much light inside your darkness. It's how everything is." Yugi placed a hand on his Yami's arm, and the Darkness trembled.  
  
"I'm human, Yami. So are you. I trust you to protect me, because I love you. Please, Yami, come back to me."  
  
Yami raised a second trembling hand and grasped Yugi's forearm in turn. "Aibou," he whispered. "Are you sure?" The shorter boy nodded, eyes full. Then the pyramid puzzles around their necks flashed with blinding light, and when everyone could see again, only Yugi stood there.  
  
"Whole," the boy whispered, eyes closed. Then his eyes opened, and as he took in the room they reddened and he grew taller.  
  
The entire Angel Investigations group wore grins, save for Gunn, whose eyes were fixed on a point behind the altar. "Um, guys?"  
  
"Well, that screws things up a little bit. Good thing we kept a backup." Lilah's voice was shaky, but it carried from the back of the room. Next to her, before the door, stood two surviving vampires, one grasping the sacrificial knife and the other holding a struggling white-haired boy.  
  
* * * 


	8. Part 8 - Epilogue

All right, folks, this is it. The epilogue. Finis. The End. Part the last, nothing more to write. I was gonna make you wait for it, because I'm evil, natch, but life and ff.net are uncertain, so here you go! Flowers, flames, and draconian, soul-shredding punishments can be sent to batya_93@yahoo.com, or you can always hit the grey button at the bottom left; do let me know what you thought of the whole shooting match, eh? Now, last stop, everybody off. You don't have to go home, but you can't stay here. Read on below for the epilogue to The Games Angels Play.  
  
* * *  
  
Part 8  
  
"This is the last time I let you use a spell you got off the Internet," the vampire with the boy muttered.  
  
"Shut up! It'll work this time." The vampire holding the knife pulled the stopper from a vial and tossed the contents on the white-haired boy. "Bakura! Yami, Hikari. Segregare!" Light flashed, and there were two versions of the child, one trembling and one snarling and attempting to bite.  
  
"All right. Now, most of the spell's been cast already...it's all you," Lilah said, smiling, as the knife descended. But one vampire was now burdened with holding two Bakuras, and Yami Bakura knew his way around a blade. He shook free, ducked and lunged, coming up with the knife and jamming it into his opponent's side. He had rather more luck than Yami Yugi in the same situation; the mystic blade ignited the vampire's flesh. The other vampire jumped back from the conflagration, dropping the other Bakura. Ryou, the light half, ran to Joey.  
  
"Idiots," Lilah snorted, slipping out the back door. The other vampire moved to follow her, but a crossbow bolt through his heart made him dust before he got halfway there.  
  
"Okay," said Cordelia, lowering the weapon. "*Now* can we go home?"  
  
* * *  
  
-----"Whatever games are played with us, we must play no games with ourselves". -Ralph Waldo Emerson-----  
  
As the sun rose, a tired crowd regrouped in the lobby of the Hyperion hotel. Lorne held Connor, rocking the baby slightly. Yugi had reverted to his own form, and sat half-drowsing on a couch, white-haired Ryou Bakura leaning against him. Joey sat at their feet, occasionally glaring at Kaiba as though daring him to make a dog reference. Gunn, sipping coffee, watched the billionaire and the blonde, reflecting that if one of them were black, they'd be perfect buddy movie material.  
  
Wes sat opposite Ryou, listening with the politely reserved sympathy that the English were good at mustering for one another. "So he's really gone?"  
  
"For a few weeks, yes. The spell will wear off in time." As would Yami Yugi's admonition; upon leaving the vacant church, he'd growled "Get lost!" at the other Darkness, and the albino creature had happily done so, absconding with his new blade and muttering something about good riddance to a weak fool.  
  
"You seem - relieved," Wesley continued. "Yugi had a very different response when he was separated from his yami."  
  
"My yami is different," Ryou replied. He leaned forward, pain and foreboding in his eyes. "Pray you never learn how different." And Wes felt a chill.  
  
Cordelia, meanwhile, had moved to the back of the office to file Kaiba's generous check in Payments Received, where it was relatively lonely. In fact, a yawning Fred had gawked at it before retiring, saying she wanted to see a payment in full so that she'd remember what it looked like. Closing the drawer, Cordelia caught a flash out of the corner of her eye. She turned to find the taller, darkly handsome version of Yugi looking at her curiously.  
  
He opened his mouth, but before he could speak, she broke in, "So, been meaning to ask. What'd you do to Lilah? Because I was really hoping for insane and drooling."  
  
"I wanted to leave her immobile and gasping for breath, under the weight of her selfish desires. But..."  
  
"She lawyered you, right? Hey, happens to the best of us. But you did something. I saw her go splat."  
  
"I managed to get to two percent of her spirit. I'm keeping it, pure and unsold, to remain horrified at her actions no matter how soulless she tries to become. She'll never be free of it, or me." He leaned forward and favored Cordelia with a long look. "Now, my turn for questions. What are you?" he asked. "Yugi remembers you helping the demon find me, but I sense that you have much greater potential than that. There is a great deal of magic in you."  
  
"What am I?" she echoed, holding back the "You sure you want to know" from Spider-Man because she thought it sounded trite, and she was sure he did. "Well, basically, I'm a seer." His eyes widened at that. //Hmm. Curious...// "I get these visions, although I haven't had one lately, and none about you, don't ask," she said, silencing him as his lips parted. "They were killing me, so I let the Powers that Be..."  
  
"The Powers that Be What?"  
  
"Obnoxious, arrogant, and generally high-and-mighty when it comes to us poor Earth-creatures, but that's beside the point. Anyway, I let them make me part demon. Since then, I haven't had much pain, but I picked up more power, which has managed to manifest itself in brief glowy periods and the occasional tendency to float." She shrugged. "That's it. I'm no threat to Yugi, if you're wondering."  
  
"How did you..."  
  
"Protecting him's what you do, right? Isn't that how this whole thing started?"  
  
"This whole thing started because undead beasts had an interest in your founder's son."  
  
"And their best shot at the kid just happened to fly into town yesterday." Hands on her hips, eyebrow raised. "I think there's enough coincidence to go around. Seto knowing Wes is a good thing, without which you'd all be screwed."  
  
"You're very frank."  
  
Cordelia fairly stalked around the desk. "You haven't seen anything yet." She cocked her head. "I've got something to say about your protective impulses, and I think you ought to listen. Granted, I know it's not my place..."  
  
"You're right."  
  
"And if you knew me better, you'd realize that that never even remotely stops me from saying something, so listen. Yugi isn't as innocent as you think he is. He's getting less naïve every day. He's figuring out that things can't always end painlessly and that sometimes people have to get hurt. That's not called corruption."  
  
"What is it called, then?"  
  
There was sympathy in her voice as she met his red eyes unafraid.  
  
"Growing up."  
  
Yami stared at her. He blinked, twice, and shook his head as if to clear it. He stared some more and then turned slowly and crossed the office back to Yugi, who looked up, smiled, and opened his arms welcomingly as they merged again.  
  
"I have never seen anyone do that to him before."  
  
Cordelia turned. Seto lurked in kitchen doorway, near the teapot. She shrugged. "It's a gift."  
  
"You know, I'm going to be in town for two more days."  
  
"Mm-hm."  
  
"And the West Coast leg of the tour will last a while."  
  
"Mm-hm."  
  
"You know," Kaiba said, "I'm not dating Virginia anymore. It took her two weeks to find out that my life was almost as dangerous as her last boyfriend's. I think she's seeing an accountant now."  
  
"Wes and I kinda figured as much, because otherwise, gloating."  
  
"That would be bad manners."  
  
Cordelia just looked at him. He sighed. The direct approach? With her, there was apparently no other way.  
  
"It just seems to me that you wouldn't care about my money and power, which is very rare. That if you were to accompany me to dinner, tonight, it would not be because of my wealth."  
  
"Actually," Cordelia said, "I have to be honest. I swore off billionaires, but if I were going to date you, it would be because you're rich. It's the only thing that can compensate for your glaring personality flaws."  
  
He turned away. Well, that was th-  
  
"Hey, Seto?"  
  
"Yes?"  
  
A thousand-watt grin. "I didn't say no."  
  
Across the room, Joey jerked his head up and opened his eyes wide. The blonde looked at his watch and jumped up from the floor. "Oh, whoa! We gotta go get An - Tea and Tristan at the airport! Their plane's gettin' in any second! Yugi and Ryou forced themselves, yawning, to their feet. "Seto, you comin' or do I get to drive that beaut?"  
  
"You don't know how to drive on the right..." Seto began, crossing the room to join them.  
  
"Do too!"  
  
"And you don't even get to valet park my car!"  
  
"Snob!"  
  
"I resemble that remark," Seto replied. Ryou opened the door and Yugi took one look back at their new American friends. Then he looked ahead into the morning light and glanced up at Kaiba. His expression was unusual. It wasn't his usual half-grin or smirk. It seemed to be an actual, genuine...  
  
"Seto, are you smiling?"  
  
*****  
  
END TMF  
  
-----"God does not play dice with the universe; He plays an ineffable game of his own devising, which might be compared, from the perspective of any of the other players, to being involved in an obscure and complex version of poker in a pitch dark room, with blank cards, for infinite stakes, with a dealer who won't tell you the rules, and who smiles all the time." -Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett, Good Omens----- 


End file.
